Four days before Christmas, as the tanker Bertina prepared to leave British Columbia with a cargo of Canadian crude oil, the captain drafted an urgent message to its Norwegian owners. In heavy seas off the Pacific Coast the previous week, the captain wrote, the Bertina's main engine had been shut down repeatedly, leaving the ship powerless and drifting--one cause of previous tanker catastrophes. Similar problems had haunted the Bertina for months.

Four days before Christmas, as the tanker Bertina prepared to leave British Columbia with a cargo of Canadian crude oil, the captain drafted an urgent message to its Norwegian owners. In heavy seas off the Pacific Coast the previous week, the captain wrote, the Bertina's main engine had been shut down repeatedly, leaving the ship powerless and drifting--one cause of previous tanker catastrophes. Similar problems had haunted the Bertina for months.